Oct. 13, 2005
The 2005-06 season begins with a new head coach, Tracy Ljone. Ljone is looking forward to this season and can’t say enough great things.
“I can’t say enough great things about the girls, they have so much team chemistry and spirit,” Ljone said. “They come on deck with smiles and cheers and they are always ready to swim. They’ve been working so hard in the pool that I think it’s going be a really fun and fast year.”
Ljone has several goals in mind that she wants her team to accomplish this year. Being a first year coach, Ljone wants to build on the team from last year and also rebuild with the new team this year. Her main goal is to have everyone make conference and score points.
“The big goal is to have everyone who has been to conference make it back and score points,” Ljone said. “I want to have all of our relays in the top four. Regarding dual meets, I think our team could be more competitive, getting out of the block and racing. I also want to have more individual best times. I want it to be that when we get to conference we are working off of better times.”
Most importantly, Ljone wants the women to have fun and just enjoy themselves this season.
SENIORS
This season the Lobos will have four strong and competitive leaders. Swimmers Robyn Miller, Kelsey Leckovic, Heather Morsilli, and Cassidy Lespreance are ready to lead this team.
“We have four excellent seniors this year,” Ljone said. “They all are very talented and each bring unique qualities of leadership to the team.”
Miller is probably one of the best all around swimmers that UNM has ever had. She received two second place finishes and a third last year. She will be swimming in the IM’s, Butterfly, and she will be helping out in the distance freestyle.
“I really hope she can get a first place this year because she deserves it,” Ljone said. “She works so hard and she is a great team player. She is always smiling, always positive, never complains and I think she will have a great senior year.”
Leckovic had a great end of the year last season. She will be swimming the sprint freestyle and the 200-yard free. She placed 13th and 14th in conference last year and is looking to hopefully make top-8 this year.
“Kelsey is a model for work ethic,” Ljone said. “She has a very strong work ethic and she has a very easy-going kind of attitude. She is very supportive of everyone, the girls look up to her and we can always count on her when needed.”
Co-captain Heather Morsilli is also looking to have a great senior year after a good summer of training, She will be helping the team in the IM’s, backstroke, breaststroke and maybe a little in the 500-yard free. She is looking to make top-16 in the conference.
“Heather is our spirited leader on the team,” Ljone said. “She is very team oriented and lots of fun to be around.”
Lespreance, a transfer from Louisiana-Monroe, will be looking to help the team in the mid-distance and distance freestyles. She had a great fall semester at Louisiana-Monroe and is looking to build on that. She has very good chance of making the top-16 in all of her events and hopefully top-8.
“She’s been a great addition to the team,” Ljone said. “I can’t imagine transferring your senior year and I know it’s been very tough on her, but she came here and fit in with the girls and worked hard. I am excited for her to have a good season.”
JUNIORSFive swimmers and two divers make up the talented junior class. All of the juniors are very valuable assets to this team. Co-captain Kelly Soldow, who leads the junior class, will be in the arsenal of sprints and will be looking for spots on the relays. A goal for her is to break into the top-16 this year. Jenna Syverson is one of the team’s top sprinters and will be in all the sprint-style relays while looking to improve on her scores from last year. Despite battling shoulder problems, she’s already swimming a lot more than last year. Jen Hale had a great sophomore year, placing tenth in the 200-yard fly. Hale is looking to move into the top-8 in all of her events. Brittany Trybus had a great championship meet at UNLV last season and is looking to add to the distance events. Her goal will be to make the conference team. Katy Vandam rounds out the junior swimmers. She is looking to make it back to the top-16 in the 100-yard back and the 100-yard fly. She is a great swimmer who can score big.
Joanna Garcia and Kaley Knafelc are the two junior divers. Garcia had a great summer of training and a goal for her is to break into the top-16 in conference. Knaflec is a red-shirt junior this year due to knee surgery, but will hopefully be back competing in January.
SOPHOMORES
The Lobos second largest class is the sophomores, made up of six swimmers and two divers. Tori Clarridge is the top sophomore and top sprinter coming back this year. She is looking to be top-5 in all of her events. Amina Adnan and Ashley LaBree both had a great summer of training and were on the brink of finaling last year. Hopefully this year they will both be stepping up into the top-16. Nadia Adnan was plagued by a shoulder injury last year but had a great fall semester. She is looking keep healthy and continue where she left off so she can make it to conference. Both Andrea Zarins and Rachel Evans had tough freshman years, but are already having a much better sophomore season. They are looking to be top-16, hopefully top-eight, in all of their events.
The two very talented sophomore divers are Carrie Quinn and Tiffany Blackstone. Quinn will be the top returnee this year. She finished in the top-8 in most of her events last season and will be aiming for the top-5. Blackstone transferred from Northern Arizona where she had a very successful season with two top scores on the 1-meter springboard as well as two top scores on the 3-meter springboard.
FRESHMEN
It was a tough recruiting year last season, but Ljone has brought in a very talented freshman class. Leading the way is top recruit Kristen Naber, a butterflier who turned out to be an asset to the breaststroke too. Naber has the potential to finish in the top-8 this year at conference. Another top recruit is Katrina McCoughlin, a very good all around swimmer who will be helping in the IM and the Fly’s and also maybe some mid-distance freestyle events. Nicole Naber, twin sister of Kristen, will primarily compete in the Fly, but could see action in the IM’s and sprint freestyle. Two swimmers who are looking to surprise the team with their talents are Summer Abt and Blakely Stephens. Neither have trained year-round and are already top swimmers on the team. Another great addition to the middle and distant freestyle is freshman Jessica Dwsorschack, who could final at conference in the mile and 500-yard free.
Nicole Vargas, Denise Telles and Kathryn Blair make up the freshman divers.
SCHEDULE
The Lobos open their season at home with two conference games against Air Force followed by Wyoming. They will then host the Lobo Invitational Nov. 4-5. Ljone is fairly happy with this year’s schedule.
“We like to be done at the end of January, but it’s just how the schedule fit,” Ljone said. “We have the addition of TCU for an extra dual meet. It’s tough with nine dual meets, but I think it’s a fairly good schedule. It is spaced out. We’re looking forward to our first meet to be home against Air Force and Wyoming. Those will be very close intense competitions and we always have a good meet out at the Speedo Cup in LA. January will be tough. We have meets right in a row, but then we will finish at home which I think will be good.”
The Lobos will finish their regular season at home Feb. 3-4 against TCU and UNLV.